40 



Ghazzali' s Alchemy of Happiness. 



He was in antagonism with men who to him appeared, like 

 Avicenna, to exalt reason above the Koran, yet he himself 

 went to the extreme limits of reasoning in his endeavors 

 to find an intelligible basis for the doctrines of the Koran, 

 and a philosophical basis for a holy rule of life. His cha- 

 racter, and moral and intellectual rank are vividly depicted 

 in the following extract from the writings of Tholuck, a 

 prominent leader of the modern Evangelical school of Ger- 

 many. 



" Ghazzali," says Tholuck, " if ever any man have de- 

 served the name, was truly a divine, and he may justly be 

 placed on a level with Origen, so remarkable was he for 

 learning and ingenuity, and gifted with such a rare faculty 

 for the skillful and worthy exposition of doctrine. All 

 that is good, noble and sublime, which his great soul had 

 compassed, he bestowed upon Mohammedanism ; and he 

 adorned the doctrines of the Koran with so much piety 

 and learning, that, in the form given them by him, they 

 seem in my opinion worthy the assent of Christians. What- 

 soever was most excellent in the philosophy of Aristotle 

 or in the Soon mysticism, he discreetly adapted to the 

 Mohammedan theology. From every school, he sought the 

 means of shedding light and honor upon religion ; while 

 his sincere piety and lofty conscientiousness imparted to 

 all his writings a sacred majesty. He w T as the first of 

 Mohammedan divines." (Bibliotheca Sacra, vi, 233). 



Sale, in the preliminary discourse to his translation of 

 the Koran, shows that he had discovered the peculiar traits 

 of Grhazzali's mind ; for wherever he gives an explanation 

 of the Mussulman creed, peculiarly consonant to universal 



1 Pallia, M6moire sur le manuscrit Arabe de la Bibliotheque Royale de 

 Paris, No. 884, contenant un traite philosophique d' Algazali. Mem. de 1' 

 Institut de France. Tome i, Savants etrangers. Paris, 1841, 4°. 



Smolders, Essai sur les ecoles pliilosopliiques cliez les Arabes et notam- 

 ment sur la doctrine d' al Ghazzali. Paris, 1842. 8°. 



